Drink or Drug Driving: Blood or Urine Samples

Drink Driving Cases

There must be a lawful requirement for blood or urine to be taken meaning that the officer can only require such a sample in limited circumstances such as if:

1. There is not a suitable breathalyser available for use
2. There is reason to believe the breathalyser has failed to produce a reliable result; or
3. The suspect is unable to provide a specimen of breath because of medical or other reasons.

This is not an exhaustive list, but these are the most common circumstances that lead to an alternative sample being taken.

Drug Driving Cases

It is standard procedure to take a blood sample in drug driving cases, but urine can be taken as an alternative in some cases.  

Cases Involving a Hospital Procedure

If a motorist is involved in an accident they may have been taken to hospital where the police, the conduct their procedures as part of an investigation. It is not possible to take an evidential breath sample at the hospital and so blood is usually the first choice. Like the criteria above, urine is a possibility if blood cannot or should not be taken.

The Taking of a Blood Sample or Urine Sample

Once it has been decided that a blood or urine sample will be donated, the sample must be taken in the correct way. Failings here may mean the sample becomes unsuitable for analysis.  There is procedure in place to help ensure the overall fairness of proceedings, such as offering part of the sample to you to have analysed independently.

Blood

A Force Medical Examiner (FME) will be called to take the sample.  He or she should go through some questions, conduct a risk assessment to determine whether you are fit to provide blood and obtain consent before proceedings to take the sample. The blood is withdrawn and divided into two samples. The samples are shaken, placed into tamper-proof evidence bags and sealed.  One of the samples should be offered to you to. 

Urine

You should be asked to give 2 specimens within a 60-minute window. One of these samples is discarded and the other is sent away for analysis.

Having the Blood or Urine Sample Analysed

Once the sample has been donated the police must ensure it is booked into custody, stored in an appropriate manner and then transported to an accredited laboratory for analysis. The police should provide you with information about having it analysed independently. 

There must be a strict chain of continuity of the sample from the moment of its donation to the results being produced.  There must be no doubt as to whether the sample analysed is in fact the one you provided. This can sometimes prove problematic for the Prosecution if the police have not kept a strong paper-trail.

Following donation of the sample, it will be posted to a laboratory and there are now numerous organisations that are approved to do this type of work on behalf of the Prosecution. Arguably the most well-known amongst these is Randox who have notoriously been caught up in a scandal because of staff tampering with results in drug driving cases. This has been well-reported in the news and may result in thousands of convictions being overturned.

The laboratory will log receipt of the sample and allocate it to a forensic scientist for analysis. The scientist and their team will conduct the analysis before reporting the result and this is what the Prosecution will rely upon to prove you have exceeded the legal limit of either drugs or alcohol.

All of the above can be significant in establishing whether the analysis of the sample is reliable.